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Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea Moench [L.]) is widely used as a health supplement and is cultivated for its production of bioactive phytochemicals. However, there is a lack of information on how agronomic planting designs and environment affect the phytochemical content of different coneflower tissues. Experimental plots were established at two locations in Minnesota to evaluate the effect of environment and agronomic planting design on the phytochemical profile of purple coneflower, as well as the relative content of several provisionally identified compounds. Root, stem, leaf, flower, and seed tissues were harvested, and extracts were analysed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The growing environment affected the levels of several caffeic acid derivatives in leaf, stem, and root tissue, but agronomic design had little to no effect on phytochemical content. Although all tissue types contained phytochemicals of medicinal interest, no single tissue contained the highest amount of all compounds with known bioactive properties, indicating that the most beneficial purple coneflower supplements may be the combination of several tissue types. Additionally, the phytochemical content of purple coneflower seed, which is uncommon in Echinacea supplements, was chemically similar to root tissue. Seed tissue, after additional evaluations, may be a suitable alternative for root in supplement mixtures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flaxseed has gained popularity as a health food. Wild, perennial Linum relatives of annual flax (L. usitatissimum) possess similar oil compositions, making them perennial oilseed (OS) alternatives. The objective of this study was to phenotype 25 OS and 17 cut flower (CF) breeding populations with 137 wild Linum species' accessions in a common garden over three years (Y1–3) to quantify the impact of selection and identify top candidates. This study was intercepted by COVID-19, which prevented the same detailed phenotyping of Y1 from occurring in Y2–3. Traits measured from the perennial flax OS, in comparison with the CF ideotypes: weekly seed germination (Y1), yield per plant (Y1–3), seed weight (Y1–2), shattering (Y1–2), and seed capsule diameter (Y1). In Y1, OS selections had the highest yield per plant, followed by L. austriacum and then CF selections. The 1000 seed weights in Y1 were highest in annual flax, followed by L. grandiflorum and L. baicalense. Seed numbers/capsule were low in Y1–2, possibly due to shattering. Average yield per plant increased across Y1–3 indicating that, once plant establishment had occurred along with the potential for two harvests/year in Y2 onwards, significant OS yield can be realized. Harvest 1 yields were significantly higher than in harvest 2. In Y1–3, OS selections had the highest average seed yield. In Y1, OS and CF populations had smaller seeds, higher shattering, smaller capsule diameters, and lower germination than wild species. Significant breeding efforts are needed to increase perennial flax yield, using the multiple crop ideotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]